Why digital curation?

The production of digital data is growing rapidly. At the same time, hard- and software development cycles are becoming shorter, data storage devices are subject to aging, and file formats are becoming obsolete. Thus, secure storage alone is not sufficient to guarantee the long-term usability of the data. To ensure that data can be accessed over long term, careful data management and the meticulous planning of preservation measures are required.

Digital curation and long-term preservation are pivotal when it comes to handling research data:

Digital curation

Addresses the entire lifecycle of digital data – all the way from its creation during the scientific workflow through its processing, documentation, publication to its permanent management in digital archives.

Long-term preservation

Is a more specific term that stands for the task of storing data for a longer period of time and guaranteeing its usability through adequate measures.

Also the contents of digital collections need to be safeguarded for the long term: the ETH Data Archive provides appropriate solutions.